Travels!

 I know I’ve been so bad about posting here. We’ve been so busy. When I was in Namibia I had a lot of free time in the mornings and evenings and here it’s very different because I have schoolwork and site seeing. Hindi got really difficult after learning the syllabary. Ruby and I spend 1-2 hours on sometimes just 5-10 questions for homework. Nikita helps a lot, but understanding takes a lot of work. We have a quiz every morning and so we also have to study, on top of doing the physical written assignments. Studying…imagine that! I’m definitely picking up on the “Indian way” of teaching and classroom etiquette – very different from Walkabout and Feinstein! Quite the opposite, actually.

Last weekend I went to Agra with four other girls. We took a van with a driver who spent the whole weekend driving us around, which was great (and comparatively cheap). The first day we went to Fatipur Sikri, a mosque and palace. The mosque is made of bright white marble, carved with various designs.  The surrounding walls are red stone which look amazing at sunset. The palace is also made of red stone. Their were wild green parrots flying everywhere and the gardens and the views of the nearby towns were incredible. It was a really beautiful place.

At night we stayed at a youth hostel which only cost us $2.00. But I woke up covered in bed bug bites! Not fun. We left at 6am for the Taj Mahal so that we could be there for sunrise, when the white marble of the building looks its brightest. We were allowed 4 things: water, a camera, a cell phone, and wallet. I threw Jo Bear in my bag because none of the signs said “no bears”, but when I went through security and the officer opened my bag, she told me I couldn’t take her! She said I had to walk a kilometer back to the ticket office to check her in a cubby. The sun was rising quickly, and it would have been extremely difficult to get back, check her, walk back to the line, and stand in line again… I almost started to cry! Another officer took her and kept saying I had to go back. But then he asked someone else and this officer said I could put her in my bag, but if I was caught taking her out or taking a picture of her she’d be taken away and I’d be thrown out. It was probably the scariest/most awful situation I’ve encountered yet…

We had a guide and he took us around and explained everything. The Taj took 22 years to build and was built for this queen who requested that the most beautiful building be built for her when she died. It’s huge. It’s mostly white marble but has inlays of colored stone in floral patters. The ceilings are cut in diamond-like patterns. On each side is a building – what used to be a guest house on one, and a mosque on the other (both made of red stone). I can’t put in to words what it was like to be there at misty-sunrise. Incredible, obviously, but words don’t give it justice. It was a surreal experience.

This week Nikita has been helping us a lot with our Hindi and we’ve been spending a good amount of time with her in the evenings. One night this week our parents were out and we had a really interesting/funny conversation. And last night she showed us her kurtas and dress suits and jewelry. We were really jealous. Last night we went out for ice cream with Nikita and her cousin. That was fun, but we chose ice cream instead of writing a paper and now Ruby and I are in the program center an hour early at 745am…ughh

I'm on a fancy tour bus to Jaipur right now. Jaipur is known for its crafts and fabrics. I’m excited to go shopping! Hopefully I’ll be able to find some really beautiful kurtas (Indian-style dresses/shirts) and shoes. It’ll be ncie to walk around and see the sites as well.

Check out my photos of India here,

and photos from Fatehpur Sikri and the Taj Mahal!